Walking Around Kinmen's Jincheng (Kinmen, Taiwan)

Jincheng Township / 金城鎮 is an urban township on the southwestern corner of the island of Kinmen (Quemoy) and is the county seat of Kinmen County.

The town contains Jicheng Old Street for food and Mofan Street / 模範街 which means Model Street - its name comes from the uniform hybrid architecture of Chinese and Western styles. The construction of the street started in 1924 when the President of Kinmen Junior Chamber Fu His-chi held a fundraising drive among overseas Chinese. The street was completed in 1925. The 75 meter long street features buildings with brick exteriors and arched door fronts modeled after the Japanese, Fujian and Western architecture. There are 16 buildings at each side connected by a common arcade.

The Kinmen Military Headquarters of Qing Dynasty / 清金門鎮總兵署 is also a museum in Jincheng Township. The building was originally built as a study place for a scholar during the Ming Dynasty under the name Cong Qing Xuan. It was then transformed into the Kinmen Military Headquarters of Qing Dynasty during the rule of the Kangxi Emperor when Commander of Kinmen relocated his office from Jinmencheng to Jincheng due to a situation change and loss of population in Jinmencheng.

After the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912, the office building had been used for several different purposes, from Kinmen County Government, Defense Headquarter, Fujian Provincial Government and Kinmen Political Committee during the Taiwan Strait Crisis. In 1995, the Kinmen County Police Department and Tentative County Assembly were relocated to other place.

The building is a four-section house with three courtyards in between. The front courtyard spans over a wide area with a Leafy Banyan trees. At the back lies the centuries-old ceiba tree.